I AM THE WIND

I AM THE WIND. By Jon Fosse. Translated by Simon Stephens. Directed by Patrice Chéreau. Young Vic, London, 21 May 2011; and Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, 6 June 2011.

Despite being hailed by some as the Beckett of the twenty-first century, as well as one of Europe's most distinguished and most performed playwrights for the past two decades, Jon Fosse has only recently received such admiration in the Anglo-American theatre. I Am the Wind (Eg er vinden, 2007) is a meditation on depression, suicide, identity, and loss that probes the interior reaches of our depressive society. This highly anticipated co-production of the Young Vic and the Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, featured one of contemporary British theatre's most important writers, Simon Stephens (providing an English-language version of Fosse's terse Norwegian Nynorsk), and one of France's most celebrated directors, Patrice Chéreau, notably creating his first production in English. In this production, Chéreau's directorial approach to Fosse was quite different from that of his compatriot Claude Régy's, whose admired productions of Quelqu'un va venir (1999) and Variations sur la mort (2003) were celebrated for their hypnotic manipulation of audience perception. With I Am the Wind, Chéreau emphasized desire rather than perception, clarity rather than obscurity, presenting Fosse so that his English-speaking audience could appreciate the author at his most lyrical, and also be astonished at arresting moments of theatrical awareness.

I Am the Wind had a strong tonal affinity to Chéreau's cinematic adaptation of Phillipe Besson's novel Son Frère (2003), whose two central characters are also negotiating their emotional solitude where the land disappears into the sea. The sea provides an unceasing "silent" force in Chéreau's film and likewise is a central motif in...